In 2010, Howard Middle School was declining. Wealthier students who lived in the area were going to private schools, leaving lower-income kids in the half-empty, deteriorating former Orlando High School building.
Today, the Howard Middle School Academy of Arts is thriving, with a waiting list of students and a building nearing the completion of a major refurbishment and enhancement. The fine arts magnet program has been wildly successful, earning awards and equipping students with skills needed in Orlando’s growing creative industries. It has even attracted a new business in Thornton Park, the PaperMap Theater & Co., which provides additional education for students interested in theater.
I live a block from the school. I’ve seen the change it has brought over the years, from downtrodden-looking students worried about crossing Robinson Street to delighted kids skipping to waiting parents with musical instruments and art projects in tow.
And the local children in the former Howard zone now have a world-class education, receiving a preference when applying for enrollment.
But there is a bit of traffic. It’s true. For about 20 minutes, at 3:30 p.m., five days a week, nine months a year, there’s a little traffic. That’s it. Morning drop-off isn’t a big deal, because kids quickly hop out and parents drive away. It has never impacted our garbage pickup or other city services.
Why aren’t kids walking to school? Well, the ones who live nearby can, but you see, magnet programs are open to students from across the entire county.
Nearby Hillcrest Elementary hosts an immersive Spanish and French language magnet program. Boone High School has magnet programs in criminal justice, law and finance. Edgewater has engineering, science and technology. They’re all very successful and popular.
School of Arts & Entertainment at Cherokee
A new high school magnet program has been proposed by OCPS — the School of Arts & Entertainment at Cherokee. It will be in the old Cherokee School, a former junior high school that was transitioned to a center for students with disabilities. It closed as a school in 2021.
Cherokee Junior High School opened in 1927 at 550 S. Eola Drive in the Lake Cherokee Neighborhood and was designed in the Mediterranean Revival style by famed local architect Howard M. Reynolds.
While the other magnet schools are buried within residential neighborhoods, Cherokee is right off the 408 and Anderson Street, limiting the use of residential streets to just a few blocks. Even so, neighbors are worried about traffic and parking.
“We should be so lucky to have an arts magnet open in our neighborhood, and it puzzles me how so many of my neighbors feel otherwise,” wrote Frank Mataska, Lake Davis resident and educator. “We live in a city and we are all responsible to help raise this next generation. If you want a sanitized existence with no traffic and no teenagers, perhaps an urban center is the wrong environment for you. The Cherokee School was also here before many of our houses, so who is it that doesn’t belong in this neighborhood exactly?”
The revamped school, originally built for 1,000 students, could serve about 600 students (or fewer, due to neighborhood objections) as early as the 2028–29 school year.
Students from Howard Middle School would have a natural pathway to a high school that is less than a mile from the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, another world-class resource.
I believe the Cherokee school is a worthwhile investment to see to a refurbished historic building and the joyful faces and first-class performances of kids who now have bright futures because we as taxpayers chose to invest in an OCPS magnet program.
The historic Cherokee School will soon transform into another OCPS magnet program for digital media, cinematic arts and sound design. (LOGAN LAMPHERE)